"The Director of Sanitation Services for Dallas (Mary Nix) gave the presentation. Starting March 1, the City will be picking up trash and recycling one day a week. Right now they are picking up trash twice a week and recycling once every two weeks. This change was planned in 2004 and has been piloted since then as a way to encourage Dallasites to recycle. The pilot results in the northern part of Dallas have been very successful. This is the final phase of implementation, which will involve the last 180,000 households in Dallas not currently using this schedule."

More after the jump …

"The audience seemed to favor the change for the most part. This particular roll-out also involves changing many households from alley service to curb service, involving the homeowner using a roll cart at the curb where they were previously using bags in the ally. This particular issue generated more questions that the change of scheduling.

"I also learned that three sizes of roll carts are available – every home is originally given large, 95-gallon roll carts; blue for recycling and gray for trash. If the 95-gallon trash roll cart is unwieldy or simply too large, you can request a medium roll cart (60-gallon) by calling 311 and they will bring it right out. Also, if you want an even smaller roll cart (45-gallon), call 311 and one can be special ordered for you.

"If you feel like you have more trash than can be hauled once a week, you can ask that an additional 95-gallon trash roll cart be delivered to your house. You will pay an additional onetime charge of $10.50 for the trash roll cart. You can get as many recycling roll carts as you want. Mary asks asks that you try out your current roll cart situation until after March 1, and see how it works before you call in to make a change of any kind."

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My husband and I have often noted that we needed less trash pick ups and more recycling pick ups! This should be just the solution. Ideally, we should all be thinking about the packaging we use and the household products we use to reduce our need for garbage pick up. One thing we have started that has reduced our need for garbage pick up is composting – saving out all the veggie scraps, coffee grounds, and leaves that we used to throw away to create our own compost pile. Works great!